THOMASVILLE, GA – September 7, 2016 – Hurricane Hermine left more than thousands without power in Thomasville; she also left fallen trees, broken limbs and other debris in her wake. With fair weather over the weekend and into this week, residents may be getting out to clear their yard of storm debris. To help with this, City of Thomasville Solid Waste crews will be temporarily working extended hours and Saturdays.
“Unfortunately, a storm like Hermine can result in more yard trimmings and trash than normal,” said Nate Tyler, Director of Solid Waste. “Our crews will be working additional hours so that we can schedule additional pickups for yard trimmings while maintaining our regular refuse collection cycle.”
Yard trash collections do not have regularly scheduled pick-up days and are instead addressed when time is available in the work schedule. “We normally try to pick up so that all zones receive at least two collections per month,” said Tyler. “However with the amount of debris caused by Hurricane Hermine, we want to make sure we make more frequent collections over the next two weeks.”
Residents should place yard trimmings on the City’s right-of-way for pickup. Care should be taken to avoid placing debris on roads, near drains or on sidewalks. Public Works Director Mike Atkinson said that being mindful of where debris is placed is important for a variety of reasons.
“Public Works crews will be performing additional street sweeping, and large piles of yard trimmings can make this task difficult,” he said. “In addition, blocking drains and ditches can cause drainage issues later when we have storms that bring a great deal of rain. Keeping sidewalks clear is necessary so that pedestrians do not encounter anything that could cause a tripping hazard.”
Tyler said that while placement of yard trimmings is important, the size of limbs and branches is as well. Guidelines require limbs to be no longer than six feet and about four-six inches in diameter.
“We are making exceptions to the diameter because of the storm, but we do ask residents to be sure the limbs are not more than six feet,” Tyler said. “Otherwise, we have difficulty fitting the trimmings in the truck that is used to collect yard debris.”
The extended hours for yard trimming collections is for vegetation that is a direct result of Hurricane Hermine and not for scheduled tree removals. Customers with trimmings resulting from regular maintenance or those who wish to move their storm debris ahead of pickup should utilize a collection site that has been opened by Thomas County for vegetation debris.
The site is located on Woodruff Farm Road and is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. now through September 11th.